Container and method of storing and shipping composted, organic manure and the like



Nov. 1, 1955 w. MORRISON 2,

CONTAINER AND METHOD OF STORING AND SHIPPING COMPOSTED, ORGANIC MANURE AND THE LIKE Filed March 27, 1952 942 mmmmi J]? 2/92? for Zflfflardf. JVorrzlson United States Patent CONTAINER AND METHOD OF STORING AND SHIPPING COMPOSTED, ORGANIC MANURE AND THE LIKE Willard L. Morrison, Lake Forest, 11]., assignor to The Union Stock Yard and Transit Company of Chicago, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application March 27, 1952, Serial No. 278387 4 Claims. (Cl. 20646) My invention relates to a shipper container for and to an improved, more efiicient method of storing, shipping and using organic composted fertilizer or manure and has for one object to provide means and a method of storing, shipping and using composted, animal manure with a minimum of expense and maximum efliciency.

Organic manure such as packing house manure and the like is commercially salable and conveniently usable only after the manure has been composted or digested. Raw manure before it can be effectively used on the ground must be rotted or composted or digested. When it has been composted, the manure when ready for the market is tactually dry, generally granular and contains a substantial amount of fibrous material. Heretofore such manure has been packed and shipped in fabric or paper sacks or in barrels or other containers which hold usable quantities of the composted manure. These containers are expensive and their cost must be added to the cost of the manure even though in some instances the sacks or containers are returnable.

I propose to package the composted manure in a container which will be no more expensive than and frequently less expensive than the containers heretofore used, such container itself having fertilizing characteristics so that it also may be used, on the land, in connection with and as a part of the fertilizing operation.

I have discovered that composted animal manure when subjected to appropriate heat and pressure can be used to form a plastic board of the same general character so far as its appearance, strength and general characteristics are concerned as such plastic boards as Masonite, Celotex and the like. The difference is that in the manufacture of such board some kind of binder or Waterproofing material has heretofore been used so as to prevent disintegration under the influence of moisture and the like. I propose to make a board which is little resistant to moisture penetration and which has the same kind of wet strength as ordinary cardboard, that is to say, it is a board which is as easily penetratable by water as water leaf paper and which disintegrates just as readily when wet as does the soft kind of unsized paper or board. With this board I propose to form a container which may be filled with the loose, uncompressed, composted manure. Such a package can be stored and handled and shipped without difliculty. However, such a package in the presence of water or even excessively moist air would disintegrate and so after the package has been filled and closed, I propose to coat the outside of the package with a suitable water and moistureproof layer such as varnish or lacquer or any one of the synthetic resins which is water resistant or waterproof but does not penetrate substantially into the manure board. This outer waterproof layer will be thin since it gets its strength from the board itself and since its sole function is to exclude moisture from the board and from the contents of the package. Such a container can be stored, shipped and used in commerce just as in the past. When the farmer takes the container out into the field, since it is coated with a ice waterproof layer, it will not disintegrate even in the rain. But as soon as the package is broken up and because only the outer surface of the board has been waterproofed, the board itself will disintegrate and be just as useful as a fertilizer as is the contents of the package.

Other objects will appear from time to time throughout the specification and claims.

My invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective of a package made according to my invention;

Figure 2 is a section on an enlarged scale through a part of the package;

Figure 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the specification and drawings.

1 is a cylindrical shell made of manure board. The abutting edges 2, 3 are cemented together by means of any suitable, generally water soluble cement 4. 5 is the bottom of the shell or barrel. It is flanged at 6 and the flange penetrating the shell as it does is cemented to the shell by a water soluble cement layer 7. 8 is a mass of composted or digested animal manure contained within the barrel. 9 is a head for the barrel flanged at 10, the flange being cemented to the shell of the barrel at 11 by a water soluble cement material. 12 is a thin waterproofing coating which is applied to outside of the shell and to both ends of the barrel so as to provide a water barrier covering the entire outer periphery and top and bottom of the barrel and masking the areas where the water soluble cement occurs.

It will be noted that this water resistant layer is exceedingly thin and penetrates into the outer surface of the manure board only sufficiently to insure permanent contact of the waterproofing layer with the manure board itself.

When this package is taken into the field, it can be broken up by sawing or cutting by saw, axe or knife, preferably the head of the barrel being broken in so that the humus-like manure may be distributed on the land.

Since the inside of the manure board in direct contact as it is with the manure itself is not waterproofed, as soon as the barrel has been opened moisture can have access to the interior and disintegration of the shell from the inside out toward the waterproofing layer commences so the user must take care to protect the barrel or package against the elements as soon as it has been opened. As an ordinary proposition the farmer will distribute a large number of these barrels on the land, will then break them up and distribute the fertilizer so the fact that the shell must be protected to prevent disintegration after opening is of small consequence.

After the manure has been distributed, the farmer may leave the barrel on the land, when disintegration under influence of the elements will proceed rapidly. More likely, however, he will break up the shell and distribute the pieces so as to expedite disintegration. After the first rain or even before rain, if there is moisture in the air and on the land, the shell will disintegrate, the waterproofing layer will break up and the cement will be dissolved and disappear so that at a very early stage in the use of the manure the entire mass will be absorbed into and mixed with the soil to fertilize it. Thus I am able to deliver to the farmer not only a one way container which does not need to be returned but also a package which has the same fertilizing value as its contents. Of course, the density of the manure board before disintegration is greater than the density of the manure in the barrel but as moisture penetrates the board, the board will, as is usual in connection with such non-Waterproofed and generally hydroscopic material expand and disintegrate so that the fertilizing effect of the manure board itself is just as great in proportion to its weight as the fertilizing eifect or value of the manure in the container.

The manure board which I propose to use may be formed merely by subjecting the composted manure to heat and pressure or additional strength may be imparted by mixing with it a Water soluble hinder, the essential thing being that however the board is made, it must be a board which will have adequate dry strength but will disintegrate and collapse into its component elements in the presence of moisture such as it would be exposed to in the field.

I have used the term manure board for convenience as indicating the board which forms the shell or the package of manure and is made of the composted manure itself either with or without a binder and while it is preferably made by compacting under heat and pressure, it will be understood, of course, that the board might be otherwise formed so long as it is made of composted manure, does have structural strength when dry and does disintegrate under the influence of the elements in the field.

I claim:

1. In combination, a loosely assembled mass of composted organic manure, having substantially no structural strength, a supporting shell enclosing such manure mass and having sufficient structural strength to hold the mass together, the supporting shell and the loosely assembled manure mass having substantially identical chemical and organic characteristics.

2. The method of packing composted organic manure which consists in forming a compacted board-like shell from some of the manure, enclosing the rest of the manure in such shell and covering the entire outer surface of the shell with waterproof coating whereby moisture is excluded from the manure.

3. The method of packing composted organic manure which consists in forming a compacted board-like shell from some of the manure, and enclosing the rest of the manure in such shell.

4. In combination, a loosely assembled mass of composted organic manure, having substantially no structural strength, a supporting shell enclosing such manure mass and having sufficient structural strength to hold the mass together, the supporting shell and the loosely assembled manure mass having substantially identical chemical and organic characteristics, a waterproof film covering and entirely supported by the supporting shell.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 118,680 Bisbing Sept. 5, 1871 130,616 Babcock Aug. 20, 1872 677,918 Ansenheimer July 9, 1901 1,554,865 Magoon Sept. 22, 1925 1,581,470 Park Apr. 20, 1926 1,995,703 Clark Mar. 26, 1935 2,051,035 Field Aug. 18, 1936 2,091,993 Jones Sept. 7, 1937 2,245,356 Murphy June 10, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 259,825 Germany Apr. 29, 1913 349,336 Great Britain May 28, 1931 

